A Beginner's Guide to Boléro by Maurice Ravel

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  • Опубліковано 30 чер 2024
  • We take a look at one of the most popular works of classical music: "Boléro" by Maurice Ravel. Learn how the work came to be, how it was constructed, and how it was received by audiences.
    Introduction - 0:00
    Ravel's Early Life and Education - 0:46
    French Impressionism in Music - 2:48
    Ida Rubinstein Commissions Ravel to Compose a Ballet - 3:46
    Ravel's use of theme and variation - 4:28
    Ravel was a renowned orchestrator - 6:17
    How Ravel organized Boléro - 8:49
    The rhythmic pattern that drives Boléro - 9:28
    Boléro's first theme - 9:56
    Boléro's second theme - 10:37
    Ravel's use of Tenor Saxophone - 11:36
    Ravel's use of the Harmonic Series - 12:20
    Boléro's final variation - 13:04
    Reception of Boléro by Audiences and Critics - 14:33
    Closing thoughts - 15:00
    Performances videos used:
    - Bolero | Alondra de la Parra | WDR Symphony Orchestra: • Maurice Ravel - Bolero...
    - Vitaly Pisarenko plays Ravel - Une barque sur l'ocean: • Vitaly Pisarenko plays...
    - Maurice Ravel - Une barque sur l'océan (Orchestre de Paris, Mikko Franck): • Maurice Ravel - Une ba...
    - Maurice Ravel: Le tombeau de Couperin • Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra: • Maurice Ravel: Le tomb...
    - Ravel: Ma Mère l'Oye - Lucas & Arthur Jussen: • Ravel: Ma Mère l'Oye -...
    - Ma mère l'Oye (Mother Goose) / Maurice Ravel / James Gaffigan / Oslo Philharmonic: • Ma mère l'Oye (Mother ...
    - Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun / Claude Debussy / James Gaffigan / Oslo Philharmonic: • Prelude to the Afterno...
    --------------------------------------------
    Support me on Patreon: / keepitclassical
    Follow me on Instagram: / matthewdnielsen
    --------------------------------------------
    About me: I am a conductor, published composer, professional singer, sound engineer, and producer based in Los Angeles. I love classical music and want to help as many people as possible learn more about it.
    --------------------------------------------
    Sources:
    - A Ravel Reader: Correspondence, Articles, Interviews (amzn.to/3pYs9Kt)
    - Ravel: Man and Musician (amzn.to/3dOGKFh)
    - The Cambridge Companion to Ravel (amzn.to/3dWgI3a)
    - Masterworks of 20th-Century Music: The Modern Repertory of the Symphony Orchestra (amzn.to/3PIHrgv)
    - A History of Western Music (amzn.to/2VfIzCi)
    - Choral Repertoire (amzn.to/3locFhJ)
    - Choral Music of the 20th Century (amzn.to/3xliG0W)
    --------------------------------------------
    My Equipment:
    My camera: amzn.to/3lpaiek
    My microphone: amzn.to/3jk9rsT
    My keylight: amzn.to/3A1NZzx
    Links included in this description might be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
    --------------------------------------------
    Intro Music: Short Ride in Fast Machine (John Adams) - www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJvni...

КОМЕНТАРІ • 53

  • @KeepitClassical
    @KeepitClassical  Рік тому +5

    Music found in this video:
    Gnossienne No.5 - amzn.to/3pD9ovJ
    Prelude a L'Apres Midi D'un Faune - amzn.to/3KfWXiR
    Boléro - amzn.to/3AE9A49
    Une barque sur l’ocean & Ma Mére L’Oye (for piano) - amzn.to/3Coww8U
    Une barque sur l’ocean (for orchestra) - amzn.to/3wrM33Q
    Ma Mére L’Oye (for orchestra) - amzn.to/3AIe6i9
    Le Tombeau de Couperin (for orchestra) - amzn.to/3CqhkrI

  • @gg4gb1914
    @gg4gb1914 9 місяців тому +6

    The Reason I LOVE Bolero Is. LESS IS MORE. Thats the beautiful thing about life's little secret. Less Is More

  • @livictori
    @livictori Місяць тому +1

    The greatest piece to explain life

  • @Belloqs
    @Belloqs Рік тому +3

    Excellent analysis. Bolero definitely inspired many of the minimalists. Reich and Glass to name two.

  • @martinbrisebois1831
    @martinbrisebois1831 9 місяців тому +2

    I guess I've started my own classical journey as Matthew was not even born, but wow, what a stellar reintroduction to works I love so much.

  • @davidharkins8880
    @davidharkins8880 Рік тому +4

    As a ‘recent subscriber’ to your channel , I simply wanted to thank you for broadening and further developing my love of this genre of music. David 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

  • @kjmav10135
    @kjmav10135 Рік тому

    I am coming to your content late, and I love it! Thank you for what you have produced!

  • @alexandras4651
    @alexandras4651 Рік тому +2

    Wonderful video, thank you!

  • @spec0h632
    @spec0h632 Рік тому +2

    Thank you! This video was so insightful and interesting!

  • @schnabeltier516
    @schnabeltier516 6 місяців тому +2

    Super interesting video, thank you!

  • @redwoodprosth
    @redwoodprosth Рік тому

    Enjoyed your video. And learned a lot. Thank you for the visual at 8:35. I found that helpful

  • @valentinbetourne1963
    @valentinbetourne1963 Рік тому +5

    You make such great and interesting content! Keep that up, looking forward to learn more and more about classical music thanks to you!

  • @haydenbutler2223
    @haydenbutler2223 Рік тому +1

    Great work!

  • @fantastiskchow8830
    @fantastiskchow8830 Рік тому +1

    Love this!!!!!

  • @tacovandijk8967
    @tacovandijk8967 Рік тому +3

    Just beginning to listen to classical music and this helps a lot so keep them coming,no preference not yet anyway.

  • @robinhillyard6187
    @robinhillyard6187 3 місяці тому

    Excellent video. I’ve always thought the same thing about it being an early (the first?) minimalist piece.

  • @otaviopmartins
    @otaviopmartins 7 місяців тому

    Awesome

  • @williamharberts5514
    @williamharberts5514 Рік тому +5

    I loved your analysis, more for covering the music than covering the composer. I've always loved Bolero but never had much of an idea why nor how it was constructed. I always thought that it would be among the hardest classical pieces for a conductor to control. It feels like it would run away from you. Think perpetual motion machine rolling downhill. Now if I could just figure out exactly when the kettle drums come in. They slip in so smoothly with the plucked basses that I can't tell exactly when they come in. They are simply suddenly there. Count me as a new subscriber.

  • @chessematics
    @chessematics Рік тому +2

    Great video. Came from reddit

  • @FLOJo83
    @FLOJo83 Рік тому

    I will always request Mahler! Great videos

  • @fendipxx
    @fendipxx Рік тому

    I was one of the students at zora neale hurston elemantry! Great Show

  • @johnlee3508
    @johnlee3508 2 місяці тому

    Love this video...Just listen to Bolero live (Kansas City Symphony conducted by Michael Stern)

  • @dsm2240
    @dsm2240 Рік тому

    Very informative, but a discussion about the strenuousness of the snare drum part would have been interesting.

  • @matthewleary3329
    @matthewleary3329 Рік тому +3

    I would greatly enjoy a video like this about Handel's Royal Fireworks music, any of Beethoven's symphonies or piano sonatas, Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite, or anything by Tchaikovsky.

  • @safid6420
    @safid6420 Рік тому +2

    Great explain, really enjoy it. Could you choose other master piece of different composer to explain them? Thx 👍

    • @KeepitClassical
      @KeepitClassical  Рік тому +1

      Stay tuned. That's my next video I'm working on rn

  • @hannahchristinah
    @hannahchristinah Рік тому +3

    5:50 : insert 'Ratatouille' scene here.

  • @bryanhyde8850
    @bryanhyde8850 Рік тому +6

    Claire De Lune would be my request, if there were only one piece of music I could listen to for the rest of my life that would be it.

  • @bijanjan100
    @bijanjan100 Рік тому +1

    I think bolero is an excelente example of the medieval practice of two melodies played in repeated sequences, in which the first melody is played and then repeated, followed by The secomd one and then repeated

  • @hukes
    @hukes Рік тому +2

    Please do Carmina Burana!

  • @r4chdm
    @r4chdm Рік тому

    What's the name of the piano song passage played at 2:15?

  • @davidhartley3435
    @davidhartley3435 7 місяців тому

    Inspiration of Ravel's Bolero came from ballet dancer, nude portrait model, Ida Rubenstein. She commissioned the piece and it was first performed in 1928. It is an erotic piece because of its repetiveness and 2 melodic structures. It is one of the most sexiest classical music pieces. Ravel couldn't decide to do it 3/4 or 4/4, to allow it to drag the repetive soloists and theme. The "orgasmic" crashes can be heard at the finale of the piece. When it was first performed in 1928 in NYC, it was reported that a woman was shouting in the audience "This is perverted garbage!" When the conductor told Mr. Ravel backstage what had happened, he said well, I guess she's the only one that understood the piece.

  • @paulaloeb4375
    @paulaloeb4375 10 місяців тому

    ❤❤❤‼️🎶

  • @galenspikesmusic
    @galenspikesmusic Рік тому

    Dusting off the cobwebs and watching analysis videos on this piece because I realized something I've been working on has taken a very Bolero turn. Great vid.

  • @valerietaylor9615
    @valerietaylor9615 6 місяців тому

    Bolero is a fun piece, but my favorite pieces by Ravel are Le Tombeau de Couperin and Alborada del Gracioso.

  •  11 місяців тому

    I think impressionism in music refers more with the kind of feeling it leaves with the listener or the viewer... that kind of soft, puffy, blurred feeling that impressions leaves... which is kind opposite of what expressionism is... that kind of sharp, intensely visceral feeling...
    But I'm just speaking from my own perspective...

  • @sullivanspapa1505
    @sullivanspapa1505 9 місяців тому +1

    Without a doubt anything by Vivaldi…please!

  • @hukes
    @hukes Рік тому

    1:09 I hear "strong independent" and my stomach starts churning.

  • @thesyandthed
    @thesyandthed 10 днів тому

    Every figure skating fan nightmare 😭

  • @kfleetwood
    @kfleetwood 2 місяці тому

    Curious why an analysis of the structure and music development of this piece should leave out any analysis of the ostinato of the snare drum and support instruments.
    Other than that, I enjoyed the talking points.

  • @zahzahzee
    @zahzahzee Рік тому +1

    Come back to posting!

    • @KeepitClassical
      @KeepitClassical  Рік тому +2

      Working on the next one as we speak...

    • @zahzahzee
      @zahzahzee Рік тому +1

      @@KeepitClassical Awesome! Can't wait!

  • @brianwilson49
    @brianwilson49 Рік тому

    Symphonies of wind instruments - Stravinsky.
    Dieu parmi nous - Messiaen.

  • @evitaaslanidou6150
    @evitaaslanidou6150 Рік тому

    Reverie by Debussy

  • @LeondeLure
    @LeondeLure Рік тому

    Ida Rubinstein was Russian.

    • @KeepitClassical
      @KeepitClassical  Рік тому

      Ida Rubinstein was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine

    • @KeepitClassical
      @KeepitClassical  Рік тому +3

      ​@@martiglesias60 ...and California is part of the US, but it's still accurate for me to call myself a Californian.

  • @corrinneloudon525
    @corrinneloudon525 10 місяців тому

    Thank you for this. I have always hated this piece but can now appreciate the way I which it was crafted. Still dislike it 😔

  • @davidrummel133
    @davidrummel133 Рік тому

    @9:07 yep, that's why I've come to really dislike Bolero to the point of it being intolerable. My wife just cranked it while doing the dishes and I wanted to jump out of the window. Seemingly endless crescendo and when it finally hits it's pretty damned unsatisfying.

  • @lamodedepinktag
    @lamodedepinktag 3 місяці тому

    Wonderful video, thank you!